pros and cons of 1000 gallon reef tank

is a 1000 gallon reef tank a good idea or bad idea


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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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pls can you post a pic of the area you have zoned in the home for this tank, we want to see which home zone can support many K pounds and other details
 

New Jersey REEF

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Pro: planning and executing was definitely lots of fun for me. Plan for failures and over plan for complete disasters. those are still I consider to be fun part

Cons: cost is high... yah
If you planning for 10 year tank then consider getting everything peace of equipment at least twice.

monthly electric bill, 300-500 extra of what you may have currently.


Bottom line. Do it !
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vetteguy53081

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Con: Electrical bill

Would definitely be awesome though.
Electric bill ? ? ? ? ?
I have a 660g with a 140g sump total 800 gals.
I previously had a 360 g system and my electrical bill has dropped almost $46/month and Im running multiple Orphek lights, reeflo hammerhead gold pump, 3 gyres, calc reator, skimmer, 4 reacors and scrubber unit PLUS two 800wt heaters
 

vetteguy53081

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If I had the time, money, and a way to easily clean it when necessary -- yes.
Take away any of the above things, and my answer would be "no".
Mine, 4 ft deep and very easy to clean. It was my fear - nothing to it
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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once i see a chiseled out space for a 10x5 setup/many elect plugs/structural reinforcements planned and proper flooring Ill know we're serious. for example, if you asked to see such a picture and you saw my apartment, you'd discern from the pics this man is more likely a vase reefer than a zillion dollar tank reefer.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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but wheres the space its going/pic just of the rough area even before prep
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Reefers and tech types always press lol it's how we r wired no harm no foul
 

vetteguy53081

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can everybody please chill i'm not gonna be buying this with a couple weeks worth of research
My big tank is by far the easiest tank ive had to set up, maintain and every task has been to a degree simple. With the right location it will be a pleasure tank, easy to work on and endless room for fish and coral
 
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Lemon

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this thread is funny. You do realize this dude is completely full of it right?

1,000 gallon tank? PAh-leaze.

Hey, 40lbs of seeded rock and some mp 60s. I think you are good to go!!

Its like home depot in here. "you can do it, we can help"
i'm not just gonna use 40lbs of live rock theres gonna be around 2000lbs of rock and the 40lbs of rock is just to seed also i know it gonna take a very long time. i also am going to use a lot more then mp60s like a panta rhei ecm 65. also i'm still learning about setting up tanks over 400 gallons
 

Jon Fishman

Cleveland Ohio, buy/sell local!
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What reef tanks have you set up? Or are you just going straight to the shotgun approach of itching the upgrade bug?
 

Bbaz123456

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Its actually a pretty simple answer, if you want to do it... do it.
You don't need millions of dollars to do it if you are knowledgeable, thrifty, and handy.
I built a 1500 gallon 12 years , it is still up and running. Definitely did not cost $85,000,000. But wasn't for the average weekend reefer either.
I did put a ridiculous amount of time into it and made a lot of sacrifices in life. It is a lot of work but came to be a big part of my life.
I think I would do it again if I could go back... maybe. The tank is less than impressive at the moment and because of that, I do not have people over my house because its embarrassing. The giant tank in the middle of my living room that you can't see through the acrylic because of all the coralline.
I let it go for periods of time and it looks awful but one thing I never do is allow water quality to go down. There are animals in there that depend on me to survive that have been part of the family for 15+ years. That's a huge responsibility.

So...short answer, educate yourself and if you're willing to make the commitment, GO For it!!
 
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ProfessorAronnax

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A good friend of mine retired 8 years ago and has money to blow. He has also been a reef keeper for many years. One day he called and said "hey man I just ordered a 1k gallon tank". My response was "need a hand"? We spent months drawing up ideas for plumbing and electrical schematics, filtration, lighting, etc... I can safely say that after he paid for the tank, equipment, renovations to house, live rock, live stock, and all he other miscellaneous equipment; he was in it for $23,578.97. Now he has to factor in monthly utilities (electric and water alone run close to 600), a 55 gallon drum of IO per month is roughly 300 give or take, food 150+, dosing supplies...I could only guess are through the roof alone, and his maintenance schedule pretty much leaves no time to actually enjoy the tank. And it doesn't stop at 1k gallons. His sump is 300, refugium is 150, skimmer is roughly 45-50, another 30-40 for all the other reactors, and another 100 in the pipes alone. That's an extra 640 gallons to account for on top of 1k. He loves every second of it,his wife hates it.

If you have the time,money, and know how- do it!
 

MnFish1

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I got a 750ish gallon acrylic tank for free (there is no market for used large tanks, so just know that whatever you built will never be able to be sold unless for just a few pennies on the dollar). I have Halides that I have been collecting for years (really the most efficient way that I have found to light a large reef tank). I have a few large AmpMaster pumps for return and large closed loop. Pari of NIB Oceans Motion 4 ways that I got at a club garage sale on the cheap. I have a used 8x2x2 240G for a sump, 4x2x2 120g used tank for a fuge. I have a pair of used ASM G6 for skimmers. I have a used 1HP chiller if needed. I have a whole pile of Rancos and some used CaRx/Regulators/Bottles and bulkheads. I cannot even imagine how much this stuff cost new - I just got good deals since NOBODY seems to want large-tank stuff. The ASM G6 skimmers were like $200 each with spare/backup pumps... nobody can use them.

Would be about $20k to buy even OK level LEDs to replace in 4-6 years.

I basically have collected all of the equipment for a 12 foot reef tank, but I will still have to spend about $1,500 on a welded powder coated stand, probably $2-3k in sand and who knows how much in rock (I have 1000 pounds, or more, of real Marshall Island, Tukani, Pukani, Fiji and other nice stuff, but this will not even do 1/3 of the tank)... probably $10k in live rock since I will not use dry/dead.

This will cost me about $5-10 a day to run mostly with the heaters and large pump costs and we are under ten cents a kWh. $300 a month is a good guess.

Then, I have to deal with the acrylic, which I do not like.

This will take me 24-36 months to get set up, if I ever do. If not, I will donate it all to a school or hospital.

Large tanks are no joke. The budget on a large tank is like a speed limit sign... you wave at it as you go past at 20 miles per hour over what it says... and you never see it again in your rear view mirror.

My guess is that you probably do not know what you are getting into. Your mention of mp60s kinda eludes to this... they are a joke in a tank like 1000 gallons and barely move any water at all. Tunze 6200 on a rotating SeaSweep barely do too much. The build and a technique of a large tank is nothing like even a 240 or 300g tank. Study up and really only take advice from people who have set up a 600-750+ gallon tank because they are the only ones who know what you are going through... people who have smaller tanks mean well when they give you advice, but they do not know that their suggestions and techniques do not scale.

The reason that you are getting all of the push back is because people know what it is like to keep a more moderate tank, know the costs and seen the failures. If you come from where you are right now to having a thriving 1000 gallon reef tank, then you will be the 1 in 1000... seriously. These people are trying to help... people who can accept a hard truth will get so much farther than people who want to deny them.


This is a perfect post - and btw - unless your heart is really set on the 750 - you could donate to a hospital,etc-and probably have enough with a tax deduction to build a nice 300 gallon tank
 

Bbaz123456

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I also made thousands of pounds of rock and seeded it with 40-50 pounds. A few
Strategically placed large korrallia power heads have provided the best flow out of any of the other more expensive methods that I have tried
 

MnFish1

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Most of the installs 600G plus that I did years ago where in the 70-80K range with labor and aquascaping. As far as live stock. That can be as much or as little as you want. Many of these customers just bought big cheap softies. Others had fun buying one fish a month for 5 years. Only in internet land is livestock cost truly ridiculous. Maintenence cost could be 500 a month but most of these clients paid their landscaping company more than that. If you have a pool you pay to maintain you will likely spend a similar amount in electricity and maintenance costs.

By the way I would go bankrupt with a tank that big. The temptation to fill it with expensive corals and fish coupled with my desire to try the latest gear would destroy me, but I have seen many people who kept equipment for 15 years and were happy with a school of yellow tangs and some big softies.

YEP - I agree with you - years ago it would be 70-80K. Now it would be 100+ just based on inflation. So -we don't disagree. My thing is - if I wanted a 1000 gallon tank - im not sure I would ask the internet. Because people with big tanks will say 'no problem' and those with small tanks will say 'no way'. I understand though that he did ask for pros and cons
 
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